This invention relates to an apparatus for gathering individual fibers or filaments into a plurality of spaced apart strands.
Glass fibers are formed by being drawn at a high rate of speed from molten cones of glass located at the tips of small orifices in a bushing such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,133,238 incorporated herein by reference. During formation, the filaments are coated while moving at a speed in excess of 25 up to 100 meters per second with a size which contains a lubricant for the filaments to prevent destruction of the strand by abrasion of the individual filaments against each other or against fiber handling equipment. By "lubricant" as used herein, is meant to include water as well as organic and inorganic lubricants as long as the lubricant provides filament protection.
In the production of glass fibers for use in textile and resin matrix reinforcement, the pulling or attenuating force for drawing the fibers or filaments is provided by a rotating drum, wheel pullers or by drawing the fibers between a pair of contacting flexible surfaces.
To produce various fiber glass products, it is desirable to gather the individual fibers or filaments into a plurality of spaced apart strands in parallel relationship. One such product is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,970 entitled "Crimped Fiber Glass and Method of Producing Same" by Warren W. Drummond incorporated herein by reference. Further, spaced apart strands are utilized in the production of continuous glass fiber mat wherein the fibers are formed, gathered into a plurality of spaced apart strands and deposited on a conveyor.
Normally, the individual fibers or filaments are gathered into a plurality of strands by a graphite gathering shoe which has the same number of grooves therein as the number of strands to be formed. Also, combs are sometimes used to form the plurality of spaced apart strands.